Casual drinkers tried 11 Costco wines: Here are the best (and worst) of the Kirkland collection

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Click or swipe through the slideshow above to see which Costco wines we liked best and which ones we hated.

Costco is a magical land filled with free samples, giant food court pizza slices, and cheap booze. Lots and lots of cheap booze — and you don't actually need a Costco membership to shop its selection.

The Kirkland-brand generic bottles of vodka, tequila and rum are often rumored to just be other big-name brands in disguise and at a steep discount. Could the same be true for wine? We set out on a noble quest to find the best vintage stocked in Costco's warehouse.

A colleague and I took Muni to the Costco store in SoMa, where we picked up 11 bottles of Kirkland-brand wine. The tab wasn't too bad for such a large selection — only one bottle cost more than $10 (the Champagne retails for $19.99).

We hauled them back to the office and set up a full tasting of two bubblies, three white wines, one rosé, and five reds.

Along the way, there were some surprises. The rosé was deemed particularly bad, even for a group that is known to tolerate pretty much any and all cheap rosé. The Cabernet Sauvignon seemed like an especially good value at $7.99 for 1.5 liters, twice the size of a normal bottle of wine. Some, like the Sauvignon Blanc, were polarizing among the taste testers; you either loved it or you hated it.

Click through the slideshow for our thorough, if not scientific, reviews and rankings of the 11 Kirkland wines you can buy at Costco.

The reds overall scored higher, though perhaps we were just getting more — how should I say this? — forgiving as the tasting went on. But what were we supposed to do? Spit out the wine? Come on, Costco or not, it's still wine after all.